Monday, August 11, 2014

Isaiah 22:9

Copyright Ó 2014 J. Neely
Isaiah 22:9ues

9 Ye have seen [ra'ah] also the breaches [baqiya`] of the city [`iyr] of David [David], that they are many [rabab]: and ye gathered together [qabats] the waters [mayim] of the lower [tachtown] pool [barekah].  KJV-Interlinear

9 and you saw that the breaches of the city of David were many. You collected the waters of the lower pool,   ESV

Along the ancient trail between Jericho and the Mediterranean Sea lies the city of Jerusalem. People settled there after discovering the Gihon Spring in the Kidron Valley.  That spring has been a steady source of water throughout the centuries, and will be a source of water in those final days of history.

Beginning to the west of the city of Jerusalem, and continuing through various connected tunnels that were in place when David conquered the city, and later improved upon by Hezekiah the spring connects two pools referred to as the upper pool and the lower pool, located deep inside the inner portion of the city, known as the City of David.

Here, the city is pictured as being overly demolished, which would obviously result from constant bombardment.

The city is in two parts.  The first part is the greater city which is demolished, and the inner part known as the City of David.

So, we know that when these events begin, the people or defenses of Jerusalem will move inward from the outer edges of the city to the inner centermost portion of the city and they will have access to the water that is underground and collects at the lower pool.

What these verses portray is a struggle of the city of Jerusalem, which by the way is still standing, oddly enough.

The people are still not turning to God for their defense, but to their own ingenuity, which will actually be phenomenal for at least a while. 

It is obvious from the past several decades that the current day Israel, has had many conflicts and has held themselves together in a remarkable way.  But they are still anti-Jesus Christ for the greater part of their beliefs. 

This will change.

But for the moment the reliance on human ingenuity is still in the forefront of their minds.  This too will change as their own ingenuity will crumble, and then and only then, will they turn to Christ.

Now, note one important thing.

It is Satan’s objective to destroy Jerusalem and thus prevent Christ from returning to Jerusalem to deliver those Jews that are still there. That is one of Gods promises, and Satans objective to prevent.

So, you might ask, why doesn’t he just nuke the city?

And we note in the prophecies that, that does not occur.  So why doesn't it occur?

Well, the answer might be simpler than you think.

Given the disasters of the Tribulation and the huge death toll around the world, Satan will have a tough time getting all the world to turn against Israel, first of all.  And second, there just might not be anyone left alive that knows how to operate those nukes, or earthquakes could have destroyed facilities, or any or all of the above and probably there are other reasons that you can think of that would prevent their use.

Nevertheless, the single city and objective of Satan’s destructive efforts, will elude him, and that will infuriate him, and frustrate his plans.

But as we often see in the movies when the city of being attacked, the defenses shrink from the outer defense to an inner defense to another inner defense, until they are out of options and nowhere else to go.

That is how the spiritual life often winds up when people are stubborn and indifferent towards God, Christ, and doctrine.  Their life dwindles and dwindles until they are out of options. 

And then what?

Most get crushed and destroyed, while a very few, wake up.